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“Not once,” Colton says. “We were starting to wonder if our boy here is allergic to?—”
“No one asked for your opinion, little brother,” Alexander cuts him off. “And I’d hate to have to rearrange that pretty-boy face, so my advice to you is to shut the fuck up.”
Noah laughs, shaking his head as he flips the burgers he’s grilling. “Sorry about them, Ivy. They’re like this all the time. And you can’t kick us out yet, we’re just about to eat. Do you guys want a burger? There are plenty here. And we just opened a bottle of Moët because it was in your fridge and we figured you’d either be celebrating or you’d need to drown your sorrows.”
“Definitely celebrating,” drawls Colton, grinning at me. “Big time.”
So we end up eating a late lunch together, as Alexander keeps me close to him. His brothers watch his protective way with me with low-key fascination, like his behavior is unrecognizable to them.
But they’re easy to be with and their crude banter is funny and full of affection.
All three of them are gorgeous, successful, built (I can’t help but notice) men. At any other time of my life, I’d be intimidated to be surrounded by three of the four coveted-by-every-woman-in-Manhattan-with-a-heartbeat Maddox brothers. But they’re welcoming and so comfortable in their own skin and their close-knit family dynamic, I end up just relaxing into it. I find myself enjoying their company.
Their extreme comfort around each other reminds me that I’ve sort of…missed out on a family. I have Josh, of course, and the two of us have always had an us-against-the-world outlook, but I’m still responsible for him. I’m always pushing him to work hard and make the most of his talents, and I’m sure I sound like a broken record most of the time. I know he gets annoyed by it and I would too. But if I don’t do it, who will? I know for a fact he wouldn’t have achieved half the things he has if he hadn’t been encouraged (okay, and lectured) on practically a daily basis.
It would be nice to have the kind of support these brothers clearly give each other, on a more even level.
It felt so good to lean on Alexander for the weekend. To feel protected by him. To not be alone for a change.
Don’t get used to it, girl. You’re going home tomorrow.
For now, I let Alexander hold me against his big, warm body, his hands casually stroking my hair and my skin.
It’s amazing to me that he already feels so familiar. Being with him is so easy, in a way that very few things in my life have been. It takes me a second to put a name on the way Alexander Maddox makes me feel and I’m almost unnerved by the realization.
He feels like home.
As they talk and laugh, I let that thought settle, holding onto it. For tonight and tonight only, I’ll let myself savor it.
Listening to their conversation, I learn that Colton is the youngest, at 26, and all four brothers are only a year apart. “Our parents were very busy for four years,” Noah explains. “Then they barely spoke to each other ever again.”
Alexander told me that his father was stern and business-minded and the two of them had a difficult relationship before his death a few years ago. Colton and Noah add more details to the story.
Their father was a tyrant, according to Colton, and a genius, according to Noah. Their father wasn’t interested in earning their love but did earn a certain amount of their respect, mainly because he taught all four of them how to make a shitload of money.
It’s easy to see that Colton is the wild child youngest son who enjoys winding his brothers up. He’s got a rebellious streak and spends a lot of his time “sowing his wild oats,” as Noah puts it.
Colton is gorgeous but in a more college-boy way than Alexander, whose masculinity is seasoned and swarthy and baked in. I have no doubt Colton Maddox could have any woman he wanted. Alexander knows this about his brother only too well, it seems. He keeps me very close to him, shielding me and shutting down Colton’s naturally flirtatious jokes.
Noah is more relaxed. He’s built like a football player, slightly stockier than his brothers, but still tall and lean. He’s almost romantically good-looking, with hair just a fraction longer and lighter than the other two. The blue of his eyes is more of an aquamarine than sapphire. His sense of humor is wry and genuine, and his low laugh is infectious. It’s easy to see that he’s the diplomat of his family, keeping the peace between the other two, whose personalities rub up against each other like flint and steel. He’s smart, and his brothers clearly respect him and rely on his advice.
They talk about their other brother Cash, who recently fell for a woman he met in Hawaii. “They had a one night stand,” Noah tells me, “but they never told each other their first names. And when he woke up the next morning, she was gone.”
Colton shakes his head. “We were all wondering what his problem was when he got back because he was so distracted, searching for clues about who she was on the internet all hours of the day and night. But he couldn’t find her.”
“How did he find her?” I’m already deeply invested in this story.
“She turned up a month or two later as his new junior analyst.” Colton tops up our glasses, laughing about it. “I swear Cash would have given her the keys to his office if she’d only said the word. The cynic of our family—or one of them, anyway—was slayed.”
Noah grins. “He really was. And still is. I think it’s getting worse.”
Colton tips back his drink. “That ring on her finger is ridiculous. We’re talking two mil, easy. Cash said he knew the minute he saw her that he’d marry her. I asked him if he got abducted by aliens in Hawaii and they swapped his brain for some sappy romantic’s, but he only smiled and told me it’ll happen to me one day. Personally, I can’t think of anything worse.”
Alexander’s arm wraps more securely around me. “I think it’ll happen to all of us. In fact, I’d bet money on it.” Alexander presses an open-mouthed kiss to my neck.
It’s incredibly intimate.
And both his brothers are watching.
